Grass Mountain

I've looked up at that familiar mountain for many years and finally hiked it today with Steve and Monte. It's not a particularly high peak...3685 feet at the summit...but it's lovely and distinctive, and hiking to the top seemed like a long-overdue rite of passage.

It's a beautiful walk that starts along an oak-shaded creek, then opens to a meadow. We meandered along, steadily upward. On the grassy slopes of the mountain we saw poppies and bush lupine, and spiky yucca plants. The final stretch to the top is straight-up vertical, a 2100-feet elevation gain in 1.5 miles.

From the summit, we looked down toward the Santa Ynez Valley in all its pastoral enchantment. There were views of Figueroa Mountain, Zaca Peak, and a great expanse of Los Padres National Forest. We saw another familiar mountain, Gaviota Peak, and parts of the Ranch, and a haze of ocean in the distance.

So that's the way it was up there. It cleared my head, and I'm ready for April.

And it's raining!